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Bunuel
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As the brain grows older, dendrites - the antennas by which neurons 21 Jan 2023, 03:35
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As the brain grows older, dendrites - the antennas by which neurons receive information from other neurons - begin to shrink, thereby reducing the communication capability between neurons and hence our ability to learn new things. Increasing the mental activity of the brain has shown to reverse the shrinking of dendrites.

Which of the following can be most logically concluded from the statements above?

A. If mental activity of brain increases with aging, then the ability to learn new things as the brain grows older might not reduce considerably.

B. A brain that is mentally more active as it ages has higher potential to learn new things than the brain of same age that reduced its level of mental activity.

C. Those individuals who maintain their level of mental activity as they grow older are unlikely to experience a decline in learning ability

D. By increasing one's mental activity, it is possible to continuously increase one's ability to learn.

E. Dementia, a disease than stems from mental decline is much more likely to set on individuals who lead a sedentary life as they grow old then those who don’t.
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A
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As the brain grows older, dendrites - the antennas by which neurons 23 Feb 2023, 14:55
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Bunuel
As the brain grows older, dendrites - the antennas by which neurons receive information from other neurons - begin to shrink, thereby reducing the communication capability between neurons and hence our ability to learn new things. Increasing the mental activity of the brain has shown to reverse the shrinking of dendrites.

Which of the following can be most logically concluded from the statements above?

A. If mental activity of brain increases with aging, then the ability to learn new things as the brain grows older might not reduce considerably.

B. A brain that is mentally more active as it ages has higher potential to learn new things than the brain of same age that reduced its level of mental activity.

C. Those individuals who maintain their level of mental activity as they grow older are unlikely to experience a decline in learning ability

D. By increasing one's mental activity, it is possible to continuously increase one's ability to learn.

E. Dementia, a disease than stems from mental decline is much more likely to set on individuals who lead a sedentary life as they grow old then those who don’t.
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I see, the answer may depend on the interpretation of the statement. While option B seems to be a possible conclusion, it is not as directly supported by the statements as option A. Option A states that if mental activity increases, then the ability to learn may not reduce considerably. This is supported by the fact that increasing mental activity has been shown to reverse the shrinking of dendrites, which in turn reduces the communication capability between neurons and the ability to learn new things. Therefore, it can be concluded that maintaining mental activity or increasing it as the brain grows older may help preserve learning ability to some extent.
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As the brain grows older, dendrites - the antennas by which neurons 02 Mar 2023, 22:33
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I was confused between option A and B. How to eliminate option B?
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As the brain grows older, dendrites - the antennas by which neurons 02 Mar 2023, 23:59
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YoyoDuo
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the passage presents the relationship “If X, then Y”.
And so, we feel the reverse should also be true, i.e., If not X, then not Y”
But this is where we go wrong.

there could be other ways in which the ability to learn new things could be increased even without an increase in the mental activity of the brain.
For example, there could be stimulants/drugs which when taken, could help in improving the brain’s ability to learn new things.
Hence, this answer choice is incorrect.

Whereas A is a more direct
it maintains the relation seen in the passage if X, then Y
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As the brain grows older, dendrites - the antennas by which neurons 03 Mar 2023, 01:35
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YoyoDuo
I was confused between option A and B. How to eliminate option B?
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Option B is not entirely correct since it cannot be concluded that a brain with higher mental activity will always have a higher potential to learn new things.
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As the brain grows older, dendrites - the antennas by which neurons 10 May 2023, 17:16
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I am noy able to understand why Option C is incorrect?
On what grounds has it been rejected?
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As the brain grows older, dendrites - the antennas by which neurons 18 May 2023, 06:15
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SunidhiM20
I am noy able to understand why Option C is incorrect?
On what grounds has it been rejected?
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C. Those individuals who maintain their level of mental activity as they grow older are unlikely to experience a decline in learning ability
The stimulus mentions that one has to increase their mental activity to offset the damage caused by dendrite shrinking due to aging. So if the individuals maintain the same level of mental activity instead of increasing it as they grow older they will definitely experience a decline in ability to learn new things. This option is opposite to what the passage states!
Hope it helps!
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As the brain grows older, dendrites - the antennas by which neurons 27 Jan 2025, 02:12
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but isn't the relationship given is this

if shrinking dendrites --> neurons do not communicate --> cannot learn new things

conclusion says ,

increased mental activity --> dendrites do not shrink

but this does not mean that if dendrites do not shrink --> neurons communicate --> learn new things (this is not X --> not Y --> not Z)

so (A) is against the logic

which would make (B) better?

KarishmaB, if you could please help
gmat700s
YoyoDuo
Happy to respond
the passage presents the relationship “If X, then Y”.
And so, we feel the reverse should also be true, i.e., If not X, then not Y”
But this is where we go wrong.

there could be other ways in which the ability to learn new things could be increased even without an increase in the mental activity of the brain.
For example, there could be stimulants/drugs which when taken, could help in improving the brain’s ability to learn new things.
Hence, this answer choice is incorrect.

Whereas A is a more direct
it maintains the relation seen in the passage if X, then Y
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As the brain grows older, dendrites - the antennas by which neurons 22 Feb 2025, 21:09
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Hello Riya,

I think you are making the jumps in logic part and its nowhere written that neurons dont communicate if dendrite shrink however it says that neurons dont capability to communicate reduces so their capatbility to learn new things reduces.

In option B if you see statement could be comparing two different brains and we dont know what is their brain capability at starting point so it cant be an answer and clearly if you dont make jump in logic A is the solid answer in first look.
RiyaJ0032
but isn't the relationship given is this

if shrinking dendrites --> neurons do not communicate --> cannot learn new things

conclusion says ,

increased mental activity --> dendrites do not shrink

but this does not mean that if dendrites do not shrink --> neurons communicate --> learn new things (this is not X --> not Y --> not Z)

so (A) is against the logic

which would make (B) better?

KarishmaB, if you could please help
gmat700s
YoyoDuo
Happy to respond
the passage presents the relationship “If X, then Y”.
And so, we feel the reverse should also be true, i.e., If not X, then not Y”
But this is where we go wrong.

there could be other ways in which the ability to learn new things could be increased even without an increase in the mental activity of the brain.
For example, there could be stimulants/drugs which when taken, could help in improving the brain’s ability to learn new things.
Hence, this answer choice is incorrect.

Whereas A is a more direct
it maintains the relation seen in the passage if X, then Y
Show more
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